This beautiful confession of an album is far too heartfelt to catapult the Liverpudlians to the top of the charts, but anyone with the nose for a great album will cherish this work of brilliance. Previous Bunnymen albums have been more arrogant, surface affairs, including the recent comeback effort Evergreen. What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? is stripped back and mellow but a truly confident album nonetheless. McCulloch may sing in tremulous tones about his need for forgiveness and a fear of the future but he is so effortless in melding melancholy and beauty on this album that you know the belief is still there. The title track gives Mac a stool to sit on, from which he looks down on his achievements and asks an unknown listener in which direction they're headed. "Rust" follows, with McCulloch begging (his wife?) for another chance and the rest of us begging for more lyrics like, "I can feel the stars shooting through my heart like rain,/ Leaving all the scars where the pleasure turns to pain."

The centerpiece of the album is "History Chimes." Some said the Bunnymen returned to try and beat the Verve at their own game. Richard Ashcroft's solo career will need to be unbelievable to create a song this good. McCulloch coos with just a solo piano backing the troubles he knows and security he wants. You'll do well to find a more heartbreaking three and a half minutes this year. Indeed, at less than forty minutes, What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? is a defiantly short album. He's always talked the talk but here is Ian McCulloch's finest moment delivered at last. He always knew he could do it and now it feels wonderful to believe him.